“On the Road With Ballin.” Hamburg 1904

Source Description

On December 10, 1904, the police
inspector in charge of HAPAG’s emigration halls at the port of Hamburg, Wenzel Kilian Kiliszewski, noticed a man calling
himself “Jossl Kalischer.” Claiming to be a Jewish migrant from the Russian empire, he
turned out to be Julius
Kaliski, editor of the Social Democrat’s
daily newspaper Vorwärts. Although his disguise
aroused suspicion, Kiliszewski was unable to
prove Kaliski had
broken any laws, and he left the emigration halls a free man. Two days later, on
December 12, 1904, Kiliszewski informed HAPAG’s management about the incident. A reply issued the same
day read: “Our general director was of the opinion that it
would be best not to pay too much attention to the matter...”HAPAG, Abt.
Personenverkehr an Kiliszewski, 12.
Dezember 1904, in: „Der Redakteur des Vorwärts,
Julius
Kaliski“, Polizeibehörde Hamburg, Abt. IV,
Politische Polizei, II E III P 45, Auswanderungsamt, 373-I, Staatsarchiv
Hamburg.Vorwärts announced the publication of Kaliski’s articles on the
morning of the same day. Between December 20,
1904 and January 10, 1905, six
articles titled “On the Road with Ballin” describing Kaliski’s journey from the
Prussian border near Tilsit in East Prussia to Hamburg were printed.
In order to experience the treatment of eastern European migrants during their
passage through Germany on their way to the USA, Kaliski disguised himself as
a Jewish migrant of modest means. His articles document the various stations of
his journey from the Prussian-Russian border to HAPAG’s emigration halls at the
port of Hamburg.